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Strawberry & Vanilla Floating Islands

February 2, 2009

It had been a while since I had the night off to bake something just for us. No book recipe to test, no challenge, no order or request. Just for us. In moments like this I tend to gravitate towards childhood memories and desserts I learned to make with my mother and grandmother. Simple desserts made so often that I bake them from memories with only the guidelines they used to whisper as I was standing on the little step stool next to the kitchen counter. It always amazes me how clearly I can still hear my grandmother's voice every time I make Floating Islands for example.

Many years after her passing, Mamie Paulette is still here as I separate the eggs and mix them with sugar to make those lovely clouds of meringues. Everytime I cut through a vanilla bean I respectfully scrape every bean to the last one "pour ne pas gaspiller" (not to waste) and put the pods in small jars of sugar to flavor it. Whenever we would make creme brulees, we would have floating islands or "iles flottantes" a few days later. Again, "pour ne pas gaspiller". I seem to faithfully carry on the tradition. I measure my egg whites, double their weight in sugar (which you can use as a guideline to increase or decrease the number of servings) and make a Swiss meringue. Stirring as she would to, still fascinated at the magic a couple of ingredients can create once baked...

After the vanilla bean mousse for the Daring Bakers challenge and the creme brulee tartelettes I had enough egg whites for a batch of macarons and some floating islands. The same week, juicy strawberry were on sale at the market and between my mother in law and us, I somehow ended up with about 5 pounds of them. I tried my best to use them but work got in the way and I decided to turn most of them into a coulis and freeze it in ice cube trays. That way I can easily portion out what I need for ice creams, sorbets, buttercreams, mousses later on. Some was used for the Floating Islands instead of the creme anglaise (vanilla custard sauce) they are traditionally served with. I hope mamie won't scream "sacre bleu" since we are severe creme anglaise addicts in the family. I think she would have approved of the variation.

She would either bake the meringue in a baking dish in a water bath and scoop out portions for each of us or divide it in between several glasses and ramekins and bake invidual ones. I liked the latter best as my role once the meringues were baked was to invert them into the pool of sauce and I loved watching how they would just slide on down the glass and float around in the plates. I did the same thing here and decided to skip the traditional decoration of caramel sauce or caramel strands as I wanted to add a little touch of color to the glasses and used finely chopped pistachios instead. There was just not enough time in the day to let me play with caramel which I tend to get carried away with anyway...

The end result was just perfect after a full day at the office. The soft and delicate vanilla scented meringue contrasting with the energizing and fragrant strawberry coulis. Enough to make you want to put on your pajamas to take the dogs for a walk...

In a medium saucepan, bring the strawberries with the sugar and lemon juice to a simmer over medium low heat. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. Divide evenly between 4 dishes or glasses.

Coat 4 ramekins of your choice with cooking spray, place them in a deep baking dish set on a baking tray, set aside.Preheat the oven to 250F.Place the egg whites, sugar and the seeds from the vanilla bean in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water and cook until the mixture registers 140F on a candy thermoter, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and whip the mixture with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until double in volume and cool to the touch. Pipe or spoon the meringue into the ramekins and fill the baking dish with hot water almost 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the meringues are slightly dry to the touch. Using tongs, remove the ramekins from the baking dish and set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, invert them and let the meringue slide right off over the strawberry coulis.Decorate with cut strawberries and chopped pistachios is desired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Note: If you liked the White Chocolate and Lemon Souffles from last week, you can find 3 more recipes I made for Desserts Magazine. Bittersweet Chocolate Souffles, White Chocolate Souffles and Chesnut Milk Chocolate Tapioca Souffles. It's all about chocolate this month!

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comments:

OMG I have had Île Flottante on my list of "something I want to make" for months now! Seems like more often I have extra yolks instead of whites though. Perhaps I'll just have to dig in and make them and end up with.... more yolks, as usual!

Easy, light and best of all, delicious!! That's going to be perfect for the hot, scorching summer that we are having here in Melbourne!! I've just looked through the chocolate edition of dessert magazine, and I'm so so tempted to make one of your souffles!!

These are lovely, especially with strawberry coulis. I am curious about the method of cooking the meringue as I was taught to poach it which never results in perfect shapes. Is that a method you ever use or have used and simply don't use anymore? Is there any real difference between the two in the consistency of the meringues?

What to do with egg whites... when working pastry I often had dozens of quart containers of whites. Coconut macarons, meringues, and financier... and then when it got really bad the staff egg-white omelette.

Floating Islands are one of my absolute favorites! If ever I go to an old school french place this is always the dessert I go for. nice idea about the strawberry, and such a cute idea to put them in glasses!

Helen- You float my boat!! This looks great. The photos are amazing. How long will it take for me to take pics like this? I'm wondering if I need a different lens or something. On top of it now you have writing on your pic! You rock!!Thanks my friend! xoxo

This looks so fresh! I loved reading about your grandmother. I have learned along the years we have known each other how much she means to you. She's watching and she is probably screaming "sacre bleu" that she can't have any of it!

Your dessert is so beautiful -- comme toujours. As I was reading about your grandmother, who told you never to waste anything, I was reminded of a scene that was repeated over and over again when Baking with Julia was being filmed in Julia Child's kitchen. A chef would beat something up in the mixer and then scrape the batter into the pan and put down the mixer bowl. As soon as it would hit the counter, Julia would pick up the bowl and a spatula and scoop up the teensy bit of batter that remained. She'd put it into the baking pan and then she'd all but wag her finger at the chef and say, "You shouldn't waste anything!"

I'm sure she wouldn't mind the variation. After all, making creme anglaise means using up a bunch of yolks, and that means even more whites, hee hee! Plus, the tartness of the strawberries is a perfect foil for the sweet, light meringue. I'd never seen this cooking method before, though (I kind of thought they were always poached, for some reason). I gotta try that!

These are sooo cute! Strawberries and meringue are such an awesome combo of tart and sweet. I've never had floating islands before - sounds divine... and especially with a sprinkle of pistachios (I think it's my favorite nut... that or almonds). I had to chuckle that you have access to such lovely strawberries. Not until May over here - and June or July if you want local! Beautifully done.

Mark: There is a dessert very similar called "snow eggs" in which the meringue is poached in milk. They are also called "caramelitas" in some parts. Iles Flottantes are the only ones that are baked in a water bath. People usually do a simple French meringue but I find that a Swiss one gives the silkiest meringue once baked.

This is so beautiful! I tried making one last night after browsing through a recipe while in a bookstore. It's meringues on hot plum sauce (uses apple juice as the base). It was awful! Must try your recipe when I get hold of egg whites.